Halifax has been on my list of places to visit for years in
order to see the spot where my parents and sister landed decades ago to start
their life in Canada.
As more than a million people did between the end of World
War 2 and 1971, my family arrived at Pier
21 in Halifax.
Unfortunately, Canadian Museum of Immigration is closed for
renovations. But I was able to imagine
what my father, mother and sister felt when they arrived in Canada after a long
boat journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
The
experience is shown in a new statue called The
Emigrant. The bronze and marble
monument depicts an emigrant leaving his home country to start a new life in
Canada.
Speaking of the Atlantic, I certainly had a great stroke of
luck when I signed up at the visitors centre on the harbourfront for a tour of
Peggy’s Cove. I showed up for my 2 o’clock
tour to find that I was the only participant. Only in Halifax, would a tour run
for just one person!
My guide, Blair Beed, is a Halifax historian. He runs Dtours
Visitors and Convention Services. For $40, I enjoyed an excellent adventure
along the shore to Peggy’s
Cove with its rugged coastline, fishing village and famous lighthouse. What a way to experience the Halifax area with
a one-on-one conversation with a great storyteller.
No visit to Halifax is complete without sampling the local
seafood. I did my part with five bowls
of fish chowder. Every bowl was
different with a variety of creamy textures and flavours and seafood. My highlight meal was a lobster clubhouse
sandwich at the Stubborn Goat
Gastropub.
There must have been more than a half a pound of lobster stuffed
into the sandwich!
In addition to seafood, Halifax is home to fine beers
including the famed Alexander Keith’s.
Another benefit of travelling in the low season, only half a dozen folks
were on my tour
of one of the oldest commercial breweries in North America. So we had plenty of
fun participating with the actors who took us back in time to the mid 1800s to
learn about Keith and the brewing process.
The tour included two glasses of beer.
 |
| Joseph Howe statue at Province House |
 |
| Inside the N.S. Legislature |
I learned
about Joseph Howe,
a newspaper editor who was acquitted of libel in 1835. He is noted in history
as a defender of freedom of the press and a champion of responsible government
in Nova Scotia.
In the words of a popular folk song, here are a few more pictures as I say "Farewell to Nova Scotia!"
 |
| Georges Island in Halifax Harbour |
 |
| Farmers Market on a busy Saturday morning |
 |
| The Halifax skyline |
